The Ottoman parliament passed the Tehcir Law on 29 May 1915, which enabled the massive deportation the Armenians from their historic homeland. These deportations and massacres resulted in the deaths of about 1,500,000 Armenians,[1] and are referred to as the Armenian Genocide by most scholars of the period; official Turkish sources follow a denial campaign, often referring to an ″Armenian insurgency" and disputing the number of victims.

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There were previous Armenian resistances within the Ottoman Empire. The Sasun resistance of 1894 (Armenian: Սասնո առաջին ապստամբութիւն) was the resistance of the Hunchak militia of the Sassoun region. The Zeitun Rebellion took place in 1895, during the Hamidian massacres. The Defense of Van was the Armenian population in Van defense against the Ottoman Empire in June, 1896. The Khanasor Expedition (Armenian: Խանասորի Արշաւանքը) was the Armenian militia's response on July 25, 1897 to the Defense of Van, where Mazrik tribe ambushed a squad of Armenian defenders and mercilessly slaughtered them. The Sasun uprising was the resistance of the Armenian militia in the Sassoun region. Mourat together with his companion, Sepouh, had fought at Sasoun, in 1904, and had taken part in the Armenian and Tartar clashes of 1905 and 1906 in the Caucasus.

In July 1914, before the World War I, both the Russian and the Turkish governments officially appealed to various Armenian national organizations (the Armenian National Congress of the Russian Empire and the Armenian National Assembly in the Ottoman Empire, respectively) with many promises of self governance in order to secure the active participation of the Armenians in the military operations against each other. The Ottomans held talks with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation during the Armenian congress at Erzurum[7] The main of opposition in Ottoman Empire to Turco-German alliance were the Armenian people, who for four years and without an organized government or a national army, played the same role in the Near East by preventing the Turco-German advance toward the interior of Asia as the Belgians played in the West by stopping the march of Germany toward Paris.[7] According to Erickson, after the meeting in Erzurum the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) was convinced of Armenian—Russian links with detailed plans aimed at the detachment of the region from the Ottoman Empire.[8]

In October 20, 1914, a patrolling Ottoman unit in Köprüköy discovered Russian rifles cached in Armenian homes in Hasankale. The Third Army received reports of Armenians that served in Russian Army returning to the Ottoman Empire with operational maps and financial resources.[9]

On December 29, 1914, the Ottoman Army was defeated at the Battle of Sarikamish[12] Armenian detachment battalions challenged the Ottoman operations during the critical times: "the delay enabled the Russian Caucasus Army to concentrate sufficient force around Sarikamish".[13]

On February 25, 1915, the "Directive 8682" was issued and distributed secretly in the form of a ciphered cable. The directive was received by the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Armies; the Iraq Command: I, II, III, IV, V Army Corps: and to the Jandarma Command, where the Armenian population was dominant. The title of the directive was "Increased Security Precautions". The directive began with summarising dissident Armenian activity in Bitlis, Aleppo, Dortyol, and Kayseri. The directive stated that the Russians and French had influence on activities in these areas. Finally, the directive ordered any ethnic Armenian soldiers should be removed from headquarters staff and taken out of command centers.[8]

According to Erickson, from February through July 1915 additional reports from provincial officials and lower level army units reinforced the pattern of allied intelligence gathering of Ottoman military activities. Talaat Pasha's (then Ottoman Ministry of the Interior) Intelligence Division noted that the Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople was transmitting military secrets and dispositions to the Russians.[8] It was believed at this time that a seventy-year-old priest was leading Armenians[14]

On May 27, hundreds of Armenians were captured by Ottoman authorities in Urfa after the Urfa Resistance. At Urfa the Armenians repulsed the attacks of one division, but finally fell under heavy fire from artillery commanded by German officers. The Armenians destroyed all their property so that it would not fall into the hands of the Ottomans or Germans.

In July, the resistance of Murad of Sebastia and his comrades occurred at Sivas. When deportations were ordered gendarmes were sent to capture Murad, he defended himself with his compatriots for a year and a half.[13] On June 15, the Ottoman government hanged the famous 20 Hunchakian gallows. Armenians resisted for a month with Shabin-Karahisar uprising until Neshed Pasha left Sivas with three regiments and artillery to subdue them.

In May, there were fierce combats between the Armenians who remained firm and the Ottoman forces beginning with the Battle of Abaran. Between May 24–26, Armenians under Movses Silikyan defeated the Ottoman troops in the three-day long Battle of Sardarapat. Between May 24–28, the Armenian defenders at the Battle of Karakilisa managed to turn back being outnumbered by the invading Ottoman forces. After violent battle for 4 days both parties had serious losses and the Ottoman army had no more forces to continue deeper into Armenian territory.

In September, Murad of Sebastia and his volunteers were at Battle of Baku, where he died in the fighting.[13]